How to Respond to Positive Reviews

Is this post even necessary? Do you even have to do anything whenever you get a positive review online? Surely, there is no strategy that could make a happy customer… happier?

Sure, a business owner or marketer will have to respond to negative reviews, but if customers have nothing but awesome things to say about a given business, product, or service, why respond at all? It’s all about opportunity.

Responding – or not responding – to a positive review means seizing – or missing – an opportunity. Your customer has enjoyed your service and you could take note from many Public Relations “best practices,” and use the positive review to bolster your agenda – if you know how to spin it.

Watch our video or scroll down for a set of great tips on how to respond to positive reviews:

1. Say thank you.

It’s not just about having good manners. It’s also about showing appreciation for the fact that a customer took the time to share his or her positive experience with your product or service.

2. Reinforce the positive.

What did the customer like best about his or her experience with you? Recognize it. Then confirm it again in your response. This way, you get to build buzz not only about a general brand name or business; you also get to hype up a specific product, service, or feature being offered.

3. Ask what you can do better.

Good, better, best – never let it rest. If you’re truly serious about reaching the potential of your business, you’ll find every opportunity to improve. Even if that opportunity comes from an already glowing review. Asking happy customers what else you can do to help is a great way not only to keep the feedback loop going, but also to affirm and improve a positive experience.

An extremely negative and unfair review can hurt and drive people away. But there are ways to minimize the possibility of that happening. If you respond politely, professionally, and promptly, it’s likely that readers will see through the unhappy customer’s words and give you the benefit of the doubt.

4. Share with your team.

There’s nothing like anecdotal evidence to show your team exactly what makes customers happy, and encourage more of that behavior. It also has a secondary effect of boosting moral, so be sure to share the review (and your support) for your team’s success.

5. Monitor what customers are saying online.

Many business owners automatically distrust whatever customers have to say in online reviews, especially when the reviews are bad and the ratings are low. Sometimes, though, you have to listen carefully and be objective about what people are trying to say about you.

After all, there could be weaknesses in your operations you previously may not have been aware of, and which reviews may be able to point out. So don’t be inflexible. Monitor reviews, identify these weaknesses, and work to address them.

However, with all great power, comes a responsibility. Take all these tips with a grain of salt – you don’t want to alienate your happy customer with an over-sell or berating them with more brand interaction. They’re already happy!

Do you have more tips? Leave them in the comments below!

Chris Campbell

Chris is the CEO of ReviewTrackers. He has helped tens of thousands of businesses hear, manage, and respond to what their customers are saying online.

Discussion

Nat

December 12th, 2014

Hi There, I would like to thank our customers for their positive reviews on zillow, trulia etc. I would like to send them a Starbucks card along with the thank you note.
What would you suggest would be appropriate to say? This is for a real estate industry (Sell/buy homes). Any help would be much appreciated.
Thank you kindly!

Don

April 12th, 2015

That sounds like a good idea. I’d say something about how important creating positive experiences is to your business. And then thank them for taking the time to give feedback online. If applicable perhaps that you could say something along the lines of “look forward to seeing you again.”

EllaineR

July 15th, 2015

I never actually thought about actively responding to positive reviews to this extent. Is it possible for someone to make a sort of a template for responding to positive reviews, rather than writing each of them from scratch or should you personalize each response for better effect?

Jim Petersen

August 25th, 2015

Interesting. It’s the first time I’ve seen an instruction on responding to positive reviews. I’ve always considered them as unimportant, mean not the reviews, but the responds. But now I see, it’s highly important to show appreciation and care.

Bowie

Jay Bird

October 1st, 2015

I never think how important is to send feedback, but I know what I will suggest to improve something and make things better. Someone in business who care much for review is someone who looks forward making better future for himself and customers. But it’s not only to making rate … better do comment…words…

Arthur

March 22nd, 2017

We had a lot of trouble with the previous SEO company we hired,
been doing a bit of research on it in my spare time and next time I will hire someone in-house to do
it
Will defo be coming back, ’tis a nice site!

Jay Rosenberg

April 10th, 2017

Brian,
It would be interesting to see this graphic updated to April, 2017, and the stats compared. A lot has happened and we could all benefit.
In general, older articles and customers can benefit from updates, don’t you think?
Thanks,
Jay

Samantha

July 18th, 2018

You hear all the time about how to respond to negative reviews and I think sometimes we forget that positive reviews should be acknowledged too. It gives you an opportunity to thank your customers but also highlight the positives of the experience to other potential customers. And like negative reviews there is also a lot to be learned from a positive review